U.S. Orders Speedup in Big-City Airport Safety Program

Concerned about increasingly crowded skies near major airports, federal transportation authorities Thursday ordered a four-year speedup in regulations that would require additional safety equipment in planes operating out of San Diego’s Lindbergh Field and 13 other big-city airports.

Aviation officials here hailed the announcement, but questioned whether the new requirements would significantly increase safety over busy airports.

Transportation Department Secretary Elizabeth Dole ordered all aircraft operating out of the 14 air terminals to be equipped with altitude-reporting devices by Dec. 1. The requirements had been scheduled to take effect by 1992. “In these high-density areas, this new rule will give controllers a continuous read-out of aircraft altitude, a more complete view of traffic and improved control,” Dole said in Washington.

Jim Dea, manager of air traffic control operations at Lindbergh Field, estimated that more than 90% of aircraft using the San Diego airport are already equipped with devices to relay their altitude, allowing controllers to determine a craft’s “fixed position in two dimensions” relative to other air traffic in the area.

Dole’s announcement was interpreted by Federal Aviation Administration authorities as a response to the midair crash of a light plane and an Aeromexico jetliner over Cerritos last August in which 67 passengers and crew members on the two planes died and another 15 residents were killed in the resulting firestorm on the ground.

In addition to San Diego, the requirement will apply to areas around airports in Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Kansas City, Mo., Houston, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle and St. Louis. Altitude-reporting equipment is already required for aircraft operating out of major airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York City and Washington.

The new FAA regulation also requires that all new radio equipment installed in aircraft after Jan. 1, 1992, be compatible with a new-technology radar beacon system that will be installed at major airports in the future.